Movie |
Dancing | Hollywood
Disclaimer: All content and media belong to original content streaming platforms/owners like Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Videos, JioCinema, SonyLIV etc. 91mobiles entertainment does not claim any rights to the content and only aggregate the content along with the service providers links.
This marked the premiere screening of Ray Bolger's deleted dance routine from The Wizard of Oz (1939), an occasion that later inspired the making of That's Entertainment! III (1994), which was comprised of many scenes that had been deleted from their respective release prints.
Director Jack Haley Jr.'s screen credit is shown over footage of his father, Jack Haley, in the role of the Tin Woodsman in The Wizard of Oz (1939). This was a reprise of the tradition Haley had begun with his screen credit in That's Entertainment! (1974).
The final feature film appearance of Ray Bolger, who passed away two years after its release.
To showcase the most performers while still accommodating a reasonable running time, the film includes a multitude of well-known players, including Elvis Presley, Joan Crawford, Betty Grable, Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, June Haver, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Lucille Ball, and Esther Williams, appearing only in overview montage sequences.
Among the excised musical numbers were five golden era standouts slated to follow the "Backwards Dance" from Give a Girl a Break (1953) in the following running order: "Pass That Peace Pipe" from Good News (1947), performed by Joan McCracken and Ray McDonald; "It" from Deep in My Heart (1954), performed by Ann Miller; "Challenge Dance" from Give a Girl a Break (1953), performed by Marge Champion and Gower Champion; "One Alone" from Deep in My Heart (1954), performed by Cyd Charisse and James Mitchell; and "Who Gets the Girl?" from My Sister Eileen (1955), performed by Tommy Rall and Bob Fosse. After this last number, the film was to have cut back to host Ray Bolger's introduction of the Fred Astaire-Gene Kelly sequence, where the original running order was to have been as follows: "Tiger Rag" from Let's Dance (1950), performed by Astaire; "Moses Supposes" from Singin' in the Rain (1952), performed by Kelly and Donald O'Connor; "Slue Foot" from Daddy Long Legs (1955), performed by Astaire and Leslie Caron; "We're Civilians Now" from It's Always Fair Weather (1955), performed by Kelly, Dan Dailey, and Michael Kidd; "Let's Kiss and Make Up" from Funny Face (1957), performed by Astaire; and "Alter Ego" from Cover Girl (1944), performed by Kelly.
"Title Card: This film is dedicated to all the dancers... especially those who devoted their lives to the development of their art long before there was a motion picture camera."
"Gene Kelly: [First lines] Long before the dawn of history, long before he could sing or even speak, man danced. Moving to his own internal rhythms, the pounding in his heart, the beating of his pulse, primitive man discovered dance. It is within us. Always."
